


mother nature’s fury takes you by the hand (our love is like a hurricane)

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ereri Week 2015, M/M, so spoilers? maybe, time jump from ch 69
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 11:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4098610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was just supposed to be a simple trial run for the expedition to reclaim Wall Maria.</p><p>It wasn’t supposed to rain like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	mother nature’s fury takes you by the hand (our love is like a hurricane)

It was storming.

Levi gritted his teeth and fought to keep his heart steady. Panicking wouldn’t help anything, but the instinct was there, to shake and scream and scramble to find his team, but he knew better. He’d been in this situation before, he knew a cool head would be the only thing to get him out alive. But at the same time, the thought kept returning.

His squad was out there somewhere.

It was supposed to be a simple run. To the wall and back, a test of the expedition to reclaim the Wall Maria, but in the dark there had been very little warning about the storm rolling in over their heads. About an hour into their expedition the winds had changed and within ten minutes the skies had opened up, thunder and lightning bursting like canon fire overhead. Within seconds Levi had lost sight of his squad, thanks in part to the formation they had been running. They had been spread out, half a league apart to keep watch for titans in the dark, bags laden with acoustic flares and a new flash flare that Hanji had created to keep in contact with each other if their progress was impeded., with instructions to keep riding for the wall no matter what. The goal was to get there, regroup, have Eren run through his titan transformation, and then for them to return as dawn broke. The trip to the wall wasn’t supposed to be the difficult part, since most titans were lazy fat bastards at night, but the storm changed everything.

Lightning flashed, followed within seconds by a clap of thunder so loud Levi’s head rang for several long seconds afterward. His horse, already slowed by the ground quickly turning to mud beneath its hooves, reared at the sound, nearly throwing him from the saddle. He clung as tightly to the reins as he could, nails digging into the leather as he pressed forward against the horse’s neck.

They didn’t have a plan for this, he thought desperately. They’d never needed a plan for being caught out in the rain at night because they weren’t _supposed_ to be out in such things. Each expedition had been crafted together since his joining to avoid situations like these at all costs, because it was just a waste of fucking _manpower_. But here he was, clinging to his horse in the pouring fucking rain, out in titan territory, with his squad out there somewhere-

With Eren out there somewhere.

His gut clenched at the thought, the one he’d been trying to avoid in specifics. He shouldn’t care about Eren more than the others, but it was hard not to. Eren with his bright eyes and determined scowl, Eren who tried _so fucking hard_ at everything Levi had ever asked of him, Eren who didn’t blame them for not rescuing him sooner or putting all of their fucking _expectations_ on his slim, still growing shoulders…

Eren who more than anything reached out to Levi as another human being in this hellhole of a world and who looked at him like he was something worth following.

But that wasn’t new. A whole shitton of people had looked at Levi like the sun shown out of his ass, followed him merrily to their deaths because he’d asked them too. He’d never wanted any of them to look at him that way, least of all Eren. But none of the others had reached out to Levi, had sat down next to him, shoulders almost brushing, with a crooked little smile and eyes so tired Levi had thought for a moment he was looking in a mirror.

“Thank you for keeping them safe,” Eren had said.

Levi hadn’t wanted to admit it at the time, the night before Historia’s crowning and still so much to do, so much to worry about it, but it had been as true then as it was now, stuck in the rain, Eren’s fate unknown.

Levi cared for him.

Levi cared for him in a way that was _different_ from all the little brats he’d come to know, to want to protect and guide, and now they were all up shit’s creek and drowning in it without a way to know if anyone was still alive out there. Levi had tried to use one of his acoustic flares to signal anyone near him when the rain had originally hit, but if they had heard him they had not been able to find him. Turning back wasn’t an option either, because with everything so dark and the rain coming down so hard it was impossible to tell which way they had come from.

Which meant there was only one thing to do: barrel blindly into the dark and hope like hell he ran into another human being before a titan found him. He gritted his teeth at the idea, blinking usually at the water clinging to his eyelashes as he tried to find something – anything – to focus on that wasn’t the memory of grief, wet and raw, like the mud had been as it clung to his clothes. He tried to think of something bright, something hopeful, something the rain had touched and not _ruined_.

Something like the memory of Eren, two weeks before, fingers curled carefully around his wrist as he hauled him out into the rain.

Levi closed his eyes and dragged that memory around his shoulders like a cloak. Storms had always made his heart pound with foul memories and when a small rain had hit in the late evening Eren had noticed almost immediately. Levi’s answers had come shorter, snappier than he meant, but Eren hadn’t seemed to mind. He’d ducked his head and asked what was wrong, glancing around the room with clenched jaw that said he could be boiling for a fight at the drop of a hat.

Levi hadn’t been sure at the time why he’d said it, but it might have had something to do with the way Eren had gone from slumped shoulders and tired eyes into this clenched fist soldier ready for battle. It hadn’t seemed to matter to Eren – or occur to him actually – that if there wasn’t someone bothering Levi he could have taken care of it himself. And that, maybe more than anything, had made Levi’s chest clench but his tongue loosen.

“I don’t like the rain,” Levi murmured quietly. The rest of the dining hall and its chatter had almost drowned out the words, but Eren had heard him. The drop of his shoulders had indicated as such.

Levi hadn’t been able to explain why at the time. The explanation had been on the tip of his tongue, because Eren would understand the horror of losing your friends so violently, but he’d made the mistake of glancing up. Eren’s face had been twisted on itself, confused and sad and so expressive Levi had bitten in tongue in surprise.

“But the rain is _amazing_ ,” Eren had whispered. Levi had blinked at him, confused and a little surprised, and Eren, without seeming to think about it for a second, reached out and grabbed Levi’s wrist to drag him to his feet. It had been late and the people in the hall were too busy with themselves and their conversations to notice their sudden departure as Eren had easily hauled Levi out the door and into the courtyard. Levi hadn’t thought to protest until he’d realized why they had come outside, digging his heels in just in time to avoid leaving the covering overhead. Eren had only seemed to realize what he was doing then, already standing out in the rain with his hair quickly becoming plastered to his forehead. He had dropped Levi’s hand quickly, face flushing red as he rushed to apologize, and Levi had been unable to speak.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Eren had rushed to say. “It’s just- the rain is so refreshing. It was always my favorite time of year as a child; Armin and I would hunt down all the puddles and see who could make the biggest splash. It always drove my mom crazy…”

Levi had swallowed at the mention of Eren’s mother. He’d never spoken of her before, though she was clearly in his file and mentioned by the Garrison man, Hannes, in the reports. Levi knew without it needed to be said that Eren’s mother was a tender spot for him, and yet he said it so easily that for a second he thought even Eren had forgotten how it was supposed to hurt. He could see it on the boy’s face as well, his eyes pinching with misery as the good memories were quickly followed by the bad, and before he could rationalize it Levi had stepped out into the rain, forcing Eren back a step to avoid a collision.

“If either of us gets sick from this, I’m blaming you,” Levi had told him. Eren had stared at him, baffled, as he stepped past, broke into a run, and jumped straight into the puddle forming in the middle of the outdoor courtyard. The splash from that had reached all the way up to his thighs, cold and wet, but worth it for the way Eren’s face cracked into a wide, toothy grin.

Eren’s laughter that night had been loud and lively, his cheeks flushed even as they both started to shiver in the cold rain. Levi had felt like hell the next morning, but Eren with his titan recovery had felt fine. He’d protested a little at the task of cleaning up the mess they’d tracked in the night before, but he had been grinning the entire time, eyes rolling and lip curled, more comfortable in Levi’s presence than ever before.

The two weeks between their ridiculous frolicking in the rain and this failed expedition had been filled with Eren as a constant companion, more bold and lively that he had been since they had met in the jail cells beneath the courthouse. Eren had muttered sarcastic comments under his breath to Levi when Erwin had been giving big speeches to the military amassed in meetings and had ducked behind Levi, grabbing his shoulders to make sure he had a barrier between Hanji’s grabby hands and himself.

He used that memory of Eren to straighten his spine when the next crash of thunder almost knocked him from his panicked horse. He used it to steady his racing heart and suck in the deep breath he needed to _focus_ past the fear, past the rain and the dark and the tremble of the unknown that surrounded him. That lively, wonderful Eren was out there somewhere, as was the squad that had been with him every step of the way as he tore through the three walls looking for him.

He curled his finger around another acoustic round and squeezed his knees against his mount’s sides, loading the round as fast as his numb, wet fingers. He raised one arm above his head, winding the other back into the reins and flicking his drenched bangs out of his eyes like it would help with his sight. He counted to three in his head before he fired, ears ringing almost immediately at the ringing crash of the round being fired.

The momentarily deafness caused by the round lasted twenty-three thundering heartbeats before he could begin to hear the sound of his horse’s hooves again. He kept counting after that, ears straining for the sound of an answering round or the sound of raised voices. _Anything_ to tell him there was someone nearby.

What he got instead was the roar of a titan, close and louder than even the thunder. His heart stopped with a crash of its own his chest.

Because that was just any titan’s roar; that was _Eren’s_ roar.

“ _Captain_ ,” someone screamed faintly. Levi yanked on the reins to haul his frightened horse toward the sound of the roar, the same direction as the shout had come from, squinting uselessly into the dark. He only rode for a handful of seconds before there was a strike of lightning that illuminated the surroundings, throwing the shape of Eren’s titan form and the figures atop horses huddled around him into sharp relief. The sight of Eren, bent over with his head hung low, neck exposed, sent Levi into such a panic he didn’t even notice the sound of the thunder crashing seconds later. He turned the horse in the direction of Eren and bent low of its neck, riding so hard he ended up standing up in the slick stirrups with one hand fisted against the edge of his saddle as his heart stampeded out of control.

“ _Captain_ ,” the cry rose, louder and louder the closer he got. He used the sound to judge how close they were, which made it so he could pull his horse to a canter just before he reached them, avoiding collision. Levi’s quick headcount showed all of them there plus Hanji, all trembling but alive, and as soon as he had confirmed that Levi snapped his head up to look at Eren in the murky darkness.

“He’s fine! He’s fine, don’t worry,” Armin shouted. His horse was pacing restlessly next to Jean’s, which was on the other side of Mikasa from where Levi stopped. Levi glanced at the blonde briefly, unable to process what he was saying. “He’s doing what he can to shelter us until the rain stops,” the boy added, hands cupped around his mouth. “It was the plan if we ever got caught out in the rain!”

“Plan,” Levi snapped. He couldn’t feel his lips, let alone his heart. It might have lurched, but everything was quickly going numb as Levi craned his head and realized Eren was looking at him, the darkness making his bright green eyes dull. He did seem to be blocking the rain from them, the way they were all bunched and huddled in a tight mass under his chest. He was almost making a table with his body like that, a titan sized table.

Hanji, the fucking shithead, laughed. “Eren decided we needed an emergency rain plan,” they said, hopping gleefully form their horse and scrambling through the mud to his side. He usually would have kicked them back to their horse, but as the words sunk in Levi found himself unable to move. Hanji scrambled up into the saddle behind him, curling their stupidly long arms around him and stealing what they could of his body heat – not that he had much of it to spare.

“Apparently,” Hanji continued at a much lower volume, “he decided about two weeks ago that it was absolutely necessary we have a way to find each other and stay safe out in the rain like this.”

Their tone of voice was only too knowing. Levi gritted against his teeth at the thought that Hanji _knew_ , tipping his head up again to shoot a look at Eren.

“I am to be _informed_ of plans like this _beforehand_ ,” Levi shouted, mostly up at Eren but also out at the rest of the teenagers giving him varying degrees of smug smiles. They nodded energetically enough, though Sasha and Connie loudly complaining that Eren was supposed to inform him so it wasn’t _their_ fault, but Levi wasn’t listening. He was still looking up at Eren, who’s cheeks moved in that horrifyingly monster-like face to smile at him quietly.

There was definitely no denying the way he felt now, he reflected, as his heart finally started to slow now that he knew Eren was safe. He cared _deeply_ about Eren.

And if what Eren had done meant what he thought it did, it was likely Eren cared about him too. But that revelation could wait until he dragged everyone back to the wall, got them safely over, and chewed Erwin out for insisting the mission had to be carried out as soon as possible.

At least he knew a little rain wouldn’t kill him. Eren had taught him that much, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> i was torn for a while about whether or not this was going to have a happy ending (or a cliff hanger ending) but in the end the idea of eren and squad goals saving the idea was too tempting lmao. also chapter 70 spoilers came out today!!! i'm so hyped about it, i wanna see everything NOW man, i'm so weak for what i've already seen. 
> 
> but, since this one was late, this completes my (first) ereri week! i hope you all have had as much fun as i have and that you enjoyed this! :)


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